ISTANBUL, March 22 – The leaders of the World Water Forum decided once again not to declare that access to water is an inalienable human right.
As the fifth of the triennial Forums of government officials, business leaders and members of non-governmental organizations closed here Sunday, the water organization said it would continue to debate the [...]

ISTANBUL, March 21 – The end is nearing for the week-long World Water Forum.
Formal statements are being issued on Sunday – World Water Day. No breakthroughs are expected. And that comes as no surprise to many participants.

The Forum, which is held every three years, and World Water Day, an annual event, are both ceremonial. [...]

ISTANBUL, March 20 – The cities around the world are where water policy becomes water reality.
“The cities have to put things in place, they really have to work on the issues,” said Walter Kling, the Director of Water Management in Vienna in an interview here at the World Water Forum where more than 25,000 water experts, government officials and diplomats are meeting this week.

ISTANBUL, March 19 – Nearly one billion people without water.
It’s not literally true. But it is close enough to true to have just about everyone here at the World Water Forum buzzing. It’s been a persistent problem for decades.
The numbers change. But the numbers remain big. Somehow, while the world is spending billions on [...]

ISTANBUL, March 18 – There’s a lot of talk here this week at the World Water Forum about toilets.
The talk is not about unpleasant, smelly toilets or dirty toilets or ones without running water. The talk is about no toilets at all.
Nearly 40 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people simply do not have toilets. [...]

ISTANBUL, March 17 – Maude Barlow is a crusader.
She is here at the World Water Forum to campaign for her favorite thing: Water for everyone, especially the poor. They must not be priced out by corporations that purify water but charge more than many can afford. She calls water a human right.
Lots of people agree [...]

ISTANBUL, March 16 – While the leaders of the World Water Forum were delivering pro-forma opening day addresses Monday morning at Istanbul’s new glass and marble convention center, a small group of protesters was scuffling with the police outside.

ISTANBUL, March 15 – All that talk about water being the cause of future wars?
Very possibly unfounded, at least that’s the word from several experts here at the World Water Forum, the planet’s largest talkfest about water problems, held every three years.
After years of warnings from authorities like Kofi Annan, a former secretary general of [...]

ISTANBUL, March 14 – More than 20,000 people with deep concerns about the environment are converging on Istanbul for the fifth World Water Forum.
The Forum, which begins on Monday, March 16, and runs for a week, was conceived 13 years ago by a small group of water specialists. It is held every three years and [...]

MIAMI - Long before Barack Obama moved into the White House, Erik Peterson was researching the problems of water around the world and how they can affect America’s relationships with other countries.
With a relatively modest investment, he concluded, the United States could make a huge dent in some of the gravest water problems. In the [...]